Maiden Mount Podium For Collinge

The North Yorkshire resort of Scarborough was once again buzzing with excitement last weekend as thousands of riders descended upon the town for the annual Barry Sheene Festival at Oliver’s Mount.

After a crash put him out of action on his debut at The Mount last month in his second race, Yorkshire based racer Tom Collinge was ready to throw his leg over the Yamaha R6 once again – although a wet, greasy track did little to steady his nerves ahead of qualifying.

Conditions severely limited track time, and qualifying was reduced to just three laps but Tom still found himself on the front row for the opening 600 B race of the weekend.

A real master on the start line, Collinge grabbed the holeshot to lead the pack on lap one. However, his decision to run a wet on the front of the bike was clearly the wrong one as the circuit dried, and he was unable to hold off a strong challenge from Gavin Lupton. Once Lupton found a way past, Tom concentrated on bringing the bike home safely and took a well earned 2nd step on the podium.

Weather conditions continued to improve ahead of Race Two, and the track was dry by the time they lined up on the grid. Tom took the holeshot once again but ran onto the grass at Turn One to let Lupton slip by, before another mistake at Memorial handed second place to Owen Graves. Regaining his focus, Tom set a new personal best as he hunted down the lead duo but just couldn’t quite reign them in, although he and the team were still more than happy with another spot on the podium.

Bearing in mind that Tom’s ContiRaceAttack Comp tyres had already completed a Thundersport GB meeting, a track day and the previous Oliver’s Mount meeting he still had the confidence (and the grip) to push for a new personal best in the second 600 B race. Collinge is also pretty confident that they’ll complete this weekend’s Thundersport GB meeting at Rockingham, where he races in the 600 Elite class.

Congratulations to Tom and his team on the great results – we hope to see him back at Oliver’s Mount in September.